My site is dedicated to helping others find their way through the sometimes very confusing world of modern day dog ownership. I find that Mindfulness helps me immensely in being able to focus my attention on what I am trying to convey to new puppy owners and helps them focus on what their puppy is learning.
When it comes to learning a new skill or shaping behaviour we must have the patience of a saint, the courage of a warrior and the forgiveness of a Buddhist monk. Every moment that you are interacting with anyone in your environment, you are either teaching or learning, usually a bit of both at any given time.
I had tried meditation on numerous occasions but always found the whole “empty your mind” was not a concept I could wrap my very busy mind around. It wasn’t until I started reading up on neuroscience and brain plasticity that I had my “Ah Ha” moment. That was what lead me to my daily practice and as Dr Shauna Shapiro said in her Ted talk, “what you practice grows stronger”, I found this to be very true. When I was a child I was always told “practice makes perfect” but I was also taught “ if you can’t do it perfectly, don’t do it at all”. It took me a long time to learn that it is ok to make mistakes and sometimes to look like an absolute goose when you are trying to learn something new.
The nice thing about mindfulness is that it creates a space in your consciousness for compassion, gratitude and acceptance of where you are in life and that it is all part of your journey. When you hold a particular thought in your mind and focus your attention on just that thought, other things will inevitably try to draw your attention away from what you are trying to focus on. For me the trick is to allow the secondary thought to pass through and gently guide myself back to my original thought. By doing this each morning I have found that over the past 5 years I find it much easier to focus on any given task throughout the day and not “give up” like I used to.
So if you have never given mindfulness a go, have a look at my Mindfulness page and give it a try… you might be pleasantly surprised where it takes you.
Enjoy the Journey!